The BBC has reported that a street cleaner in Beckenham was blocked by his employer, Veolia, from accepting £3,000 raised by a community GoFundMe page to treat him to a holiday in the sun.

Paul Spiers has worked for Veolia as a street cleaner since 2017. The community wanted to thank him for his service by paying for a trip to Portugal. £3,000 was raised via GoFundMe for Mr Spiers’ getaway but Veolia, the contractors who run Bromley Council’s street cleaning services, stopped him from accepting the donations, due to their policies on employees accepting gifts or cash that aren’t part of their salary or bonuses.

The situation is a reminder of the strict rules which are in place to prevent bribery in the UK. Here’s a rundown of what employers need to know:

  1. Bribery Act 2010: The Bribery Act 2010 is the primary UK legislation governing bribery and corruption. It applies to both individuals and businesses, making it illegal to offer, promise, give, request, or accept bribes, whether directly or indirectly, in the UK or abroad.
  2. Corporate Liability: Under the Bribery Act, companies can be held liable for failing to prevent bribery by employees, agents, or anyone else associated with the business. This includes acts of bribery committed on behalf of the company, even if senior management is unaware of the actions.
  3. Adequate Procedures Defence: Companies can defend themselves against liability by demonstrating that they had “adequate procedures” in place to prevent bribery. This includes implementing robust anti-bribery policies, training, monitoring, and enforcing those policies throughout the business.
  4. Gifts and Hospitality: The law does not ban gifts and hospitality. However, they can be seen as bribery if intended to influence business decisions. Employers must define and regulate acceptable gift and hospitality practices to ensure compliance with the Bribery Act. Employers may ban workers from accepting business gifts. Or, they may allow it if certain requirements are met and records kept. It all depends on business customs and the bribery risks identified.

The consequences of a breach of the Bribery Act are severe. Individuals face up to ten years’ imprisonment, and commercial organisations can be fined an unlimited amount and prevented from tendering for public contracts.

This latter point may explain Veolia’s robust stance here. Veolia holds multiple public sector contracts (including the one with Bromley Council which Mr Spiers worked under). It could not risk being banned from tendering for further public contracts. Veolia itself said that it would have been in breach of its contract with Bromley Council if it had allowed Mr Spiers to accept the gift.

There is a happy ending to this story. In a great example of the proverb ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way’, despite his employer’s objection to him receiving the GoFundMe collection, Mr Spiers got his holiday to Portugal after all. After hearing of the issue with the GoFundMe collection, a local travel agent organised a competition to win a holiday to Portugal with very strict participation requirements. Entrants had to “love Elvis Presley, be aged between 62 and 64, be loved by the local community, be a street cleaner in Beckenham and have the surname Spiers”. Unsurprisingly, Mr Spiers, having entered the competition, was declared the winner. The GoFundMe donations (which have been matched by Veolia) will be given to Cancer Research UK, Mr Spiers’s chosen charity.